The summer stage season is officially underway as several regional theater companies have rolled out their first productions. Let’s take a look at what will be playing on area stages in the coming months. (Theater companies are listed in alphabetical order.)

Auburn Public Theater

Back in Auburn this summer with their new show, sassy Brooklyn broads Delphine and Carmela Calamari celebrate the days of summer as they sing, dance, and cook delicious street fair goodies.

‘Durante!’

June 22-24

Grover Kemble portrays the beloved entertainer Jimmy Durante in this rollicking, nostalgic jaunt through the life of American singer, actor, comedian and entertainer known for gravelly speech, butchered comic language and catchy one-liners.

‘Precious Nonsense’

July 5-15

Rachel Lampert, longtime artistic director of the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, penned this screwball musical comedy about the Carter Family Savoyards as perform their Gilbert & Sullivan revue on tour in 1938 upstate New York.

‘The Vagina Monologues’

July 21

Eve Ensler’s Obie Award-winning whirlwind tour of a forbidden zone, which introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices, including a six-year-old girl, a septuagenarian New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter and more.

Chenango River Theatre

Sheila Cowley’s world premiere is drawn from oral histories of memoirs of women who served as WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) in World War II, flying bombers and fighter planes to help teach male pilots the art of aerial dogfighting.

This regional premiere draws from the rich songbook of the popular singer-songwriter, who scored hits such as “Rocky Mountain High,” “Take Me Home Country Roads,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” during the 1970s while also becoming a social and environmental activist.

‘Blithe Spirit’

Aug. 18-Sept. 10

Noel Coward’s classic British comedy, written in just five days in 1941, tells the tale of Charles and his current and former wives, who vie for his attention in a clash of worldly and otherworldly personalities.

Cider Mill Playhouse

With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life, with two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not so bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone.

The “Pump Boys” sell high octane on Highway 57 in Grand Ole Opry country while “Dinettes” Prudie and Rhetta Cupp run the Double Cupp diner next door. Together they fashion an evening of country western songs that received unanimous raves on and off-Broadway.

Cortland Repertory Theatre

This comedy mixes Hitchcock with a spy novel, with more than 150 characters (played by a cast of four) starring in this fast-paced comedy about a nationwide manhunt for a suspected murderer.

‘La Cage Aux Folles’

June 21-July 8

This Tony Award-winning remains one of Broadway’s all-time greatest hits. After 20 years of unwedded bliss, Georges and Albin, two men partnered for better or worse, get a bit of both when Georges’ son announces his impending marriage to the daughter of a close-minded politician.

‘Footloose’

July 12-29

This rock and roll musical based on the 1980s hit captures life in a rural town, where dancing in banned — until city boy Ren arrives and sets the town abuzz with his rebellion.

‘Appointment With Death’

Aug. 2-12

Another Agatha Christie murder mystery comes to the CRT stage, as a sightseeing tour to Jerusalem is soon upended by the death of one of its travelers.

‘Nana’s Naughty Knickers’

Aug. 16-26

Bridget and her grandmother become roommates for the summer in this regional premiere; she quickly discovers Nana is running an illegal boutique selling handmade knickers from her New York City apartment.

‘Life Could Be a Dream’

Aug. 30-Sept. 16

This regional premiere takes another trip to Springfield (hometown of the Marvelous Wonderettes) to tell the story of Denny and the Dreamers, a fledgling doo-wop group entering the Big Whopper Radio contest. Features some of the greatest doo-wop hits of the 1950s and 1960s, including “Tears On My Pillow,” “Earth Angel” and more.

Elmira Little Theatre

In this film-noir parody musical, the streets are filled with more crime than cigarette butts, the air wreaks of liquor and sin, and the only person fightin’ for what’s right is Cole Turner, Private Eye. Someone killed Angston Levi the third, the richest man in Serpent City, and it’s up to Cole to find out who.

Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival

Based on the story and characters of Damon Runyon, this timeless musical comedy blockbuster features songs such as “Luck Be A Lady,” “I’ve Never Been In Love Before” and “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” as it motors from bustle of Times Square to the dance clubs of Havana and back.

‘Parade’

July 5-26

The Tony Award-winning musical is based on the true story and courtroom drama of Leo Frank, the meek manager of a pencil factory who was falsely accused and charged with a heinous crime. His wife Lucille becomes his greatest advocate as she fights for his exoneration.

‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’

Aug. 2-23

Based on the true story of a legendary Texas brothel, this high-energy musical comedy about the world’s oldest profession presents adult themes in a tasteful, funny manner.

‘Ghost: The Musical’

Aug. 30-Sept. 16

Inspired by the hit film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, this funny, romantic and suspenseful musical is appropriate for the whole family.

Hangar Theatre

Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, Ayad Akhtar’s explosive drama explores what it’s like to be a Muslim-American living in a post 9/11 world.

‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’

June 29-July 15

Broadway’s greatest farce mashes the comedy of Ancient Rome with the great American musical, with book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Add in a healthy shake of vaudeville and Borscht belt and you get one of the funniest musicals ever written.

‘Dégagé’

July 20-29

Mimi Quillin’s world premiere blends jazz, ballet and musical theatre dance styles with popular music to tell the story of The Dancer as she becomes the artist-in-residence in a hospice.

‘The Foreigner’

Aug. 3-12

Stranded at an inn and terrified of strangers, Charlie pretends that he doesn’t speak any English — which only makes the staff and guests confide in him even more. High jinks and hilarity ensue as Charlie leads his new friends to an unexpected triumph in Larry Shue’s classic comedy.

‘Shakespeare’s R & J’

Aug. 17 - 26

A contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s most famous romance, adapted by the award-winning playwright and director Joe Calarco, an Ithaca College and Drama League/Hangar Directing Fellowship alum.

Homecoming Players

The newest play by Kristin Shepherd, author of “$38,000 for a Friendly Face,” lays bare the relationships among five strong and broken women, age 11 to 80, through a stylistically intermittent use of stand-up comedy techniques and individual mic work.

‘Easy Out’

July 28-30

The full-production world premiere of Arthur Bicknell’s newest work, which focuses on the tumultuous battle for power, raging between Gerald Metcalf—a middle-age, repressed gay man (the teenage protagonist of Bicknell’s earlier and critically acclaimed play, *”My Great Dead Sister”), and Angel—the boorish and resentful younger sister of Albert (Gerald’s narcissistic, homophobic, and currently dying longtime companion).

Ithaca Shakespeare Company

For its second season at its new location at Treman Park (near the Hangar Theatre), Ithaca Shakespeare will present “Richard III: The Winter of Our Discontent,” the grand finale in ISC's epic series of Shakespeare's English history plays, in rotating repertory with “Much Ado About Nothing,” one of the Bard’s most beloved romantic comedies.

Starring in the KNOW Theatre production of “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” are, from left, Jarel ...more

Starring in the KNOW Theatre production of “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” are, from left, Jarel Davidow, Ted Nappi, Tyler Downey and Dori May Ganisin.

Photo by Kat D'Andrea

KNOW Theatre

74 Carroll St., Binghamton; knowtheatre.org

‘The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia?’

June 9-25

Edward Albee’s story of a married, middle-aged architect, Martin, his wife Stevie, and their son Billy, whose lives crumble when Martin falls in love with a goat. Winner of the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the play focuses on the limits of an ostensibly liberal society.

Summer Savoyards

Continuing its tradition of presenting the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, Summer Savoyards presents “The Sorcerer,” the duo’s first full-length work, which both mocks and celebrates English provincial life. Sullivan’s score blends British church and country music and German and Italian opera, while Gilbert’s book satirizes classism and commercialism.

Ti-Ahwaga Performing Arts Center

The glamorous 1984 Best Musical Tony Award winner — with book by Harvey Fierstein and score by Jerry Herman — arrives for a rare appearance in the Southern Tier. This glitzy production is set in the infamous St. Tropez nightclub, where high jinx, high stepping chorus lines and a catchy musical score — including hit tunes “I Am What I Am” and “The Best of Times” — abound.